strength and subtilty to oppresse me When by day Satan by his tentations doth set upon me the strength of thy right hand doth most bountifully comfort and strengthen me that the deceitfull tempter may not allure me into his snares When an innumerable host of evils hangs over my head thy blessed angels encamp about me like a fiery wall There is no creature so vile so weak and so little of which I do not stand in danger many wayes How great and immense a benefit is it therefore that thy providence doth preserve me safe from them My soul is prone to sinne and my bodie to falling Therefore O Lord most benigne my soul thou governest by thy blessed Spirit and my body by thy angelicall buckler For thou hast given thy angels charge over me to keep me in all my wayes and to bear me up with their hands that I dash not my foot at any time against a stone To thy mercy I attribute it that I am not consumed New dangers compasse and environ me about every day Thy mercy is therefore renewed unto me every morning Thou dost neither slumber nor sleep O thou faithfull and watchfull keeper of my soul and bodie Thy grace is the shadow on my right hand that the noon-tide rayes of open and violent persecution strike me not nor the darknesse of the night cause me to fall into the secret and hidden snares of the devil Thou dost keep my ingresse thou dost direct my progresse thou dost govern my egresse For which thy great benefit I will sing praises unto thee for ever Amen PRAYER XV. He renders thanks for the promise of everlasting salvation I Render thanks unto thee heavenly Father for that thou hast not onely given me free remission of my sinnes and the inward renewing of the Spirit but also an assured promise of everlasting salvation How great is thy goodnesse that to me poore miserable man and a sinner having had so often experience of thy mercy thou hast given boldnesse to hope even after heavenly things and to conceive an assured hope of habitation in the everlasting mansions of thy heavenly house The goods of that true and everlasting life are so great that they cannot be measured and so many that they cannot be numbred so farre extended that they cannot be termed and of such price that they cannot be valued How great therefore is thy goodnesse and bounty to me undeserving wretch in that thou dost in the prison and work-house of this life make me blessed in part with an infallible promise of those goods That I am already saved by hope the Apostle of the truth doth manifest And that hope maketh not ashamed it is proved by evident testimonie Why therefore is the ship of my heart in which Christ is carried by faith so often tossed up and down with storms and waves of doubtings Thou hast given unto me a promise of salvation O God thou God of truth How can I therefore any longer doubt of the certainty and immutability of thy promise That promise of life comes of thy meer free-will And therefore it depends not upon the merit of my works I am by faith as surely ascertained of the benefits promised of thy grace as I am assured by the sight of mine eyes of those which I already have Thou feedest me with the bodie and bloud of thy Sonne Thou sealest me by the inward testimony of thy Spirit What more certain testimony or more precious pledge can there be to confirm unto me the promise of salvation I finde in very deed that thou art with me in the troubles of this present life How can it otherwise be but that I shall be with thee in that most blessed fellowship of eternall life If thou bestowest upon me such great things in the poore cottage of this world How much greater wilt thou bestow in the palace of the heavenly paradise Whatsoever thing to be hoped for thou hast promised is as certain unto me as all those things which thou hast given me for my use in this world Thy mercy and truth is strengthened and shall be strengthened over me for ever Thy mercy did prevent me and thy mercy shall follow me It prevented me in my justification and it shall follow me in my glorification It prevented me that I might live piously it shall follow me that I may live for ever with thee Therefore I will praise and sing of thy mercy and truth for ever Amen The third part Of Petitions for our selves The Argument The meditation of our own wants doth shew that 〈◊〉 have of our selves no manner of spirituall good And therefore that it becometh â—s to renounce all confidence in our own strength and to flee to the aid 〈◊〉 succour of Gods mercy promised unto us through Christ By this consideration of our manifold wants 〈◊〉 soul is lifted up unto God and begs of him morâ—â—fication of the old man and renovation of the new â—hich is necessarie for all those that are born again â—his renovation consisteth in the conservation and inâ—â—ease of faith hope charitie humilitie patience â—entlenesse chastitie and the other vertues And â—â—erefore we ought with serious prayer to sue unto 〈◊〉 for it Moreover seeing that daily we are assaultâ—â— by the flesh the world and the devil insomuch 〈◊〉 our flesh solicits us uâ—to the love of earthly 〈◊〉 the world with hatred and Satan with his â—â—eacheries oppugnes us We have just cause to pray 〈◊〉 unto the Lord of hosts who proposeth unto us 〈◊〉 battel and a reward of victorie For contempt 〈◊〉 earthly things For deniall of our selves For â—â—nquest over the world For comfort in all adâ—â—rsitie and true tranquillitie of the minde For â—â—ctorie in tentations and preservation from the deâ—â—ls treacheries And to conclude seeing that the aid 〈◊〉 assistance of God in the houre of death and the 〈◊〉 of judgement is most necessary Therefore we must 〈◊〉 day humbly pray for a blessed departure out of 〈◊〉 life and a blessed resurrection unto life 〈◊〉 PRAYER I. He prayes for mortification of the old man MOst holy and most mercifull God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through the same thy beloved Son by thy holy Spirit I humbly beseech thee that thou wouldest be pleased to work in me a daily mortification of the old man thaâ— according to the inward man I may in thee be strengthened Sinne dwellâ— in my flesh But give thou unto me the strength of the Spirit that I do not suffer it to reigne in me Thou dost set my secret sinnes before thee in the light of thy countenance But set thou them I beseech thee in the light of my heart that I may see them and grieve and humbly sue untâ— thee for pardon I am not as yeâ— altogether free from sinne dwelling in me But grant I beseech thee iâ— mercie that I may be free from thâ— guilt thereof and from condemnation
in this present life be thou unto me Jesus in death be thou unto me Jesus in the last judgement be thou unto me Jesus in the life which is everlasting I know thou wilt sweet Jesus for as thou art immutable in thy essâ—nce so also thou art immutable in thy mercy Thou wilt not change thy name Lord Jesus for my sake alone who am a miserable sinner Yea rather thou wilt become my Saviour For thou dost not cast out him that cometh unto thee Thou that hast given me a will to come unto thee grant also unto me that coming I may be received For thy words are truth and life Let the propagation of originall sinne within me condemne me yet thou art my Jesus Let my conception in sinne condemne me yet thou art my Jesus Let my forming in sinne and under the curse condemne me yet thou art my Saviour Let the corruption of my nativitie condemne me yet thou art my Saviour Let the sinnes of my youth condemne me yet thou art my Jesus Let the course of my whole life defiled with most grievous sinnes condemne me yet thou art still my Jesus Let deâ—th the just punishment of my many and grievous sinnes and offences condemne me yet thou art my Saviour Let the severe sentence in the last judgement condemne me yet thou art my Jesus In me is sinne reprobation damnation In thy name is righteousnesse election salvation I was baptized in thy name I beleeve in thy name In thy name will I die In thy name will I rise again In thy name will I appeare in judgement In this name are all good things prepared for us and shut up as it were a treasure So much are they diminished as my diffidence is increased which that it may be farre from me I beseech thee by this thy name good Jesus that for my sinne and unbelief I be not damned whom by thy precious merit and saving name thou wouldst have saved Meditat. V. An exercise of faith from the love of Christ in the agonie of death The grace of Jesus Christ to me Is th' onely true felicity SEe Lord Jesus how injurious I am to thy passion My heart is vexed and my soul is very sorrowfull because I have no good works of mine own because I have no merits when as thy passion is my action thy works my merits I am injurious to thy passion when as I seek for the supplement of my works whereas it is in it self all-sufficient If I should finde righteousnesse in my self thy righteousnesse would profit me nothing or else I should not so much desire it If I seek for the works of the law by the law shall I be condemned But I know that now I am no longer under the law but under grace I have lived wickedly I have sinned holy Father against heaven and before thee I am not worthy to be called thy sonne yet thou wilt not refuse to call me thy servant Deny me not I pray thee the fruit of thy passion let not thy bloud wax barren but let it bring forth fruit and deliver my soul. My sinnes have alwayes lived in my flesh but I intreat thee let them at length die with me Hitherto the flesh hath alwayes ruled over me but let the Spirit at length triumph Let the outward man be subject to corruption and worms that the inward man may be glorified Hitherto I have alwayes given way to the suggestions of the devil but grant hereafter I beseech thee that I may trample them under my feet Satan is readie at hand to accuse me but he hath nothing in me The sight of death affrighteth me but death is the end of my sinnes and the beginning of an holy life Now at length shall I be able perfectly to please thee O my God Now at length shall I be confirmed in goodnesse and vertue Satan terrifieth me with my sinnes but let him accuse him which took upon him my infirmities whom the Lord hath smitten for my sinnes The debt which I ow is great indeed and I cannot pay any part thereof but my trust is in the riches and bounty of him that hath undertaken the payment Let him discharge me who hath made himself suretie for me Let him pay for me who took my debt upon himself I have sinned O Lord and my sinnes are many and grievous But this horrible sinne I will not commit to make thee a lyar who by thy words works and oath dost testifie that satisfaction is made for my iniquities I am not afraid by reason of my sinnes for thou art my righteousnesse I am not afraid by reason of my ignorance for thou art my wisdome I am not afraid of death for thou art my life I am not afraid of my errours for thou art my truth I am not afraid of corruption for thou art my resurrection I am not afraid of the sorrows of death for thou art my joy I am not afraid of the severitie of judgement for thou art my righteousnesse Distill upon my withered soul the dew of thy grace and quickening consolation My spirit waxeth dry but it shall shortly rejoyce in thee My flesh doth languish and is withered but it shall shortly bud forth I am subject to corruption but thou shalt deliver me from corruption for thou hast delivered me from all evils Thou hast created me How then can the workmanship of thy hands be dissolved Thou hast redeemed me from all mine enemies How then can death have rule over me Thou hast bestowed thy body and bloud and all that thou hadst yea even thy self for my salvation How then shall death withhold them which thou hast redeemed with so precious a ransome Thou Lord Jesus art righteousnesse it self So then my sins cannot prevail against thee Thou art life it self and the resurrection So then my death cannot prevail against thee Thou art God Therefore Satan cannot prevail against thee Thou hast given me the earnest of thy Spirit in that do I glorie in that do I triumph and am fully perswaded without doubting that I shall be admitted to the marriage of the Lambe Most deare bridegroom thou art my wedding-garment which I put on in baptisme thou shalt cover my nakednesse neither will I sow the supplement of my righteousnesse to this most precious and beautifull garment What is mans righteousnes but the cloth of a menstruous woman How then can I dare to patch that most precious garment of Christs righteousnesse with this abominable ragge In this garment will I appear before thy face in judgement when thou shalt judge the world in righteousnesse and equitie In this garment will I appear before thy face in the kingdome of heaven This garment shall cover my confusion and reproch that no man remember it any more for ever There shall I appear glorious and holy in thy sight And this my flesh this my body shall be arayed with beatificall glory which glory shall be
for his promise beleeve him for his oath He is called the Father of mercies because it is his property to spare and to have mercy The cause and originall of shewing mercie he hath from himself of condemning and punishing from another Insomuch that it may appear that mercie and punishment proceed from him after a farre different manner The merit of Christ also is universall because he died for the sinnes of the whole world What can then more plainly prove his mercie then that he loved us when as yet we were not For it was his love that he created us Moreover he loved us when we were turned away from him For he sent his Sonne to be our redeemer To the sinner adjudged to eternall torments and not having wherewithall to redeem himself the Father saith Take my onely begotten Sonne and give him for thee The Sonne himself saith Take away me and redeem thy self Christ was a flower of the field not a flower of the garden because the odour of his grace is not shut up to some few but laid open to all Doubt not of the universalitie of Christs merit Christ suffering prayed for them that crucified him and poured forth his bloud for them by whom it was poured forth The promises of the gospel are universall because Christ saith unto all Come unto me all ye that labour That which was performed for all is also offered to all As farre as thou travellest amongst these goods by the foot of trust and confidence so much also shalt thou obtain God denies his grace unto no man but unto him that thinks himself unworthy of it Consider therefore thou faithfull soul these three props of predestination and rest upon them with the firm confidence of thy heart Consider the benefits of Gods mercie that are past and thou wilt not doubt of finall perseverance When as yet thou wast not God created thee When by the fall of Adam thou wast condemned he redeemed thee When thou livedst in the world out of the church he called thee When thou wast ignorant he instructed thee When thou wentst astray he redeemed thee When thou sinnedst he corrected thee When thou stoodst he upheld thee When thou wast fallen he lifted thee up When thou wentst he led thee When thou camest unto him he received thee His long-suffering appeared in that he expected thee and his mercie in that he pardoned thee Gods mercie prevented thee Hope firmly that it will also follow thee Gods mercie prevented thee that thou mightest be healed and it shall also follow thee that thou mayest be glorified It prevented thee that thou mightest live godly it shall also follow thee that thou mayest live with him for ever How came it to passe that in thy fall thou wast not ground to pieces Who put his hand under thee Was it not the Lord Be confident therefore hereafter in Gods mercie and hope assuredly for the end of perfect faith that is eternall salvation In whose hands doth thy salvation consist more safe and certain then in those which made both heaven and earth those hands that are never shortned those hands that do abound with the bowels of mercie and those hands that have holes in them by which mercie may flow forth But consider O devout soul that we were elected of God that we might be holy and blamelesse Whosoever therefore studie not to live an holy life to them belongs not the benefit of election We were elected in Christ In Christ we are by faith Faith shews it self by love Therefore where there is not love neither is there faith where there is not faith neither is there Christ where there is not Christ neither is there election The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his But let him depart from unrighteousnesse whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord The sheep of Christ shall no man take out of his hand but yet let the sheep of Christ heare his voice We are Gods house But let us retain our confidence and the glory of hope firm even unto the end O Lord thou that hast given us to will give us also to perfect Meditat. XXV Of the saving efficacie of prayer Our prayers do pierce the starrie skie And fetch down blessings from on high IT is an exceeding great benefit of God towards us in that he requires us to conferre with him familiarly by pious prayer He bestoweth upon us the gift of prayer and the fruit of prayer Great is the force of prayer which is poured forth on earth but hath its operation in heaven The prayer of the righteous is the key of heaven Prayer ascendeth and deliverance descendeth from God Prayer is a saving buckler by which we repell all our adversaries darts When Moses stretched forth his hands Israel prevailed against the Amalekites If thou stretchest forth thy hands towards heaven Satan shall not prevail against thee As the enemie is kept off by the wall So the anger of God is repelled by the prayers of the saints Our Saviour himself prayed not that he had any need but to commend unto us the dignitie thereof Prayer is the tribute of our subjection Because God hath commanded that we should every day offer unto him our prayers as a spirituall tribute It is the ladder of our ascension unto God For prayer is nothing else but the souls travelling unto God It is the buckler of our defence For the soul of him that continueth in prayer is secure and safe from the assaults of the devil It is our faithfull messenger unto God For it goeth up unto his throne and solicits him to aid us This messenger never returns in vain For God alwayes heares our prayers if not according to our will yet to our profit and salvation We may assuredly hope for one of these two Either he will give us that we ask or else that which he knoweth to be more profitable for us God gave his own Sonne that most excellent gift being not intreated What will he do then if he be intreated We cannot doubt of the Fathers hearing or the Sonnes interceding Upon all occasions thou mayest with Moses by prayer enter into the tabernacle and consult with God the Lord And thou shalt speedily heare his divine answer Christ was transfigured when he prayed So in the time of prayer there are many changes wrought in the soul For prayer is the light of the soul and oftentimes leaves him in joy whom she found in despair With what face canst thou behold the sunne unlesse thou dost first worship him who sends that most pleasant light for thee to look upon How canst thou at thy table fall to thy meat unlesse thou dost first worship him who in his bounty bestows it upon thee With what hope darest thou commit thy self unto the darknesse of
and troubled for other mens sinnes What cause hath the undutifull and disobedient servant to fear in regard of his own sinnes The wounds of my soul must needs be great indeed and mortall when as thy onely begotten Sonne is so miserably smitten for to cure them The disease of my soul must needs be great indeed and mortall when as the heavenly Physician and life it self doth die upon the crosse to cure it I see the torment of his most holy soul I heare the miserable exclamation of my most holy Saviour upon the crosse For me it is he is so vexed it is for my sinnes that he complaineth that he is forsaken of God If the weight of other mens sinnes doth so exceedingly presse the Almighty Sonne of God that it wrings from him a bloudy sweat How intolerable shall the anger of God be and how unmeasurable shall be his wrath against the unprofitable servant O thou drie and unhappy wood that hast alwayes served as a slave the everlasting fire of hell What must thou fear when thou seest these things come to passe in the green wood Christ is the green tree In the root of his divinitie in the love of his humanitie in the boughs of his vertues in the leaves of his holy words and in the fruit of his good works He is the cedar of chastitie the vine of joyfulnesse the palm of patience and the olive of mercie But if the fire of the divine anger inflames this green tree of life How much more shall it consume the sinner like dry wood for his unfruitfull works In what capitall and bloudy letters are my sinnes ingraveâ— in the bodie of Christ How conspicuous O thou most just God is thine anger against mine iniquities How strait must that captivity needs be in which my soul was held when so precious a ransome was paid for her delivery How great must the stains of my sinnes needs be when rivers of bloud flow down from the bodie of Christ to wash them away O thou most just God and yet most mercifull Father consider what indignities thy Sonne hath suffered for me and forget the wicked works of me thy unworthy servant Behold the profunditie of his wounds and overwhelm my sinnes in the profound sea of thy mercie Amen The second part ¶ Of thanksgiving for benefits The Argument The meditation of Gods benefits doth gather out of the garden of nature and of the Church sundry and those most fragrant flowers of divine gifts and recreating it 〈◊〉 with the odour thereof offereth again to God the sacrifices of the lips for a savour of sweet smell Now the immense and innumerable benefits of God may be divided according to three articles of our Christian faith God hath created redeemed and sanctified us He heapeth his benefits on us in this life and hath promised greater unto us in the life that is everlasting He conferres upon us the gifts of the minde of the body and of fortune which we call externall goods He preserveth us from evil and conserveth â—s in good That which is past he covereth that which is to come he governeth His privative blessings are more then his positive In brief we can neither in word expresse nor in thought conceive the number and dignitie of Gods benefits which will afford unto us hereafter in the world to come most plentifull matter of eternall praise and thanksgiving PRAYER I. He giveth thanks for our forming in the wombe and for our nativity ALmighty eternall God Father Sonne and holy Ghost I give thanks to thee I praise thee I glorifie thee because thy hands have fashioned me and made me wholly round about Thou formedst me like clay in my mothers wombe Thou didst draw me like milk Thou didst curdle me like cheese With flesh and skinne hast thou covered me and compacted me together with bones and sinews Thou hast given me life and mercy and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit This thy great mercy bestowed upon me I will celebrate with perpetuall praises Thy goodnesse I will sing of in continuall songs Thou didst protect me in my mothers wombe I will confesse unto thee For I am wonderfully formed Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well My bones are not hid from thee which thou didst make in secret and deckedst me with divers members in the lower parts of the earth Thy eyes saw me yet being imperfect and in thy book were all my members written which day by day were fashioned when as yet there were none of them How precious unto me are thy thoughts O God! how great is the summe of them If I go about to reckon them I finde them multiplied above the sands of the sea Thou didst shew thy mercy unto me before I understood it Thou didst prevent me with thy blessings before I did desire them Thy bounty did embrace me on every side before I could give thanks for it Thou art he who not onely didst form me wonderfully in the wombe but also didst take me out Thou art my hope even from my mothers breast Out of my mothers wombe I was cast upon thee Thou art my God from my mothers wombe As often as I think upon many that have been extinct and never came to the light of this life So often I admire and praise thee for thy mercy which brought me out of that prison into the theatre of this world safe and sound How many yeares are past in which I was not and yet thou didst erect for me this house of my body and didst bring me out of that bottomlesse pit and the darknesse of my mothers wombe Thou gavest unto me a reasonable soul Thou madest me a man not a stone or a serpent To thee O my God for this thy mercy be honour and glory for ever Amen PRAYER II. He renders thanks for our sustentation I Render thanks unto thee Almighty and mercifull God for that thou hast sustained me from the very first dayes of my life Naked I came into this world and thou coveredst me most graciously Hungry I entred into this world and thou hast hitherto fed me most bountifully In thee I live move and have my being Without thee I fall again into nothing and die Through thee I bowe and move my members Without thee I can neither be partaker of life or motion Thine is the sunne that giveth me light which I see daily with mine eyes Thine is the aire which I draw in with continuall breath The night is thine and the day is thine whose intercourses serve for my labour and rest Thine is the earth whose fruits do nourish me most plentifully Every creature in heaven aire earth and sea is thine and is appointed for my use and service Silver is thine and gold is thine Whatsoever is necessary for the sustentation of this my present life all that I receive from thy most liberall and bountifull
Therefore for our sinnes God casts us off Take not thy holy Spirit from me Therefore as bees are driven away with smoak and pigeons with ill savours so by our sinnes is the holy Spirit driven out of the temples of our hearts Restore me the joy of thy salvation Therefore sinne doth torment the minde and dry up the moisture of the heart The earth is defiled by the inhabitants thereof which have transgressed the law crieth Esay Therefore sinne is a contagious and infectious poison Out of the deeps have I cryed unto thee O Lord saith the Psalmist Therefore our sinnes presse us down unto hell We were sometimes dead in our sinnes saith the apostle Therefore sinne is the spirituall death of the soul. By mortall sinne man loseth God God is the infinite and incomprehensible good Therefore to lose God is an infinite and incomprehensible evil As God is the chiefest good so sinne is the chiefest evil Punishments and calamities are not absolutely evil for many times there comes good of them Yea rather it appeares that they are good because they come from God who is the chiefest good from whom can proceed nothing but that which is good They were in the chiefest good to wit in Christ And the chiefest good cannot partake in that which is evil truely so called And moreover they leade us unto the chiefest good that is to life everlasting Christ by his passion entred into his glorie And so do Christians by tribulations enter into eternall life Therefore sinne is the chiefest evil because it withdraws us from the chiefest good The nearer thou comest unto God the further thou departest from sinne The nearer thou comest unto sinne the further thou departest from God How saving therefore is repentance which withdraws us from sinne and brings us back again unto God! Sinne is measured by the greatnesse of him that is offended But him the heavens the earth cannot contain In like manner such is our repentance as he unto whom we return by repentance The sinner is accused by his conscience which he hath defiled by the Creatour whom he hath offended by the sinnes which he hath committed by the creatures which he hath abused and by the devil by whom he hath been seduced How saving then is repentance which frees us from such accusations Let us make haste therefore let us make haste to such a saving medicine for such a grievous disease If thou repentest at thy death thou dost not leave thy sinnes but thy sinnes leave thee Thou shalt scarce finde any one that repented truely at his death unlesse it were the thief upon the crosse Fourteen yeares have I served thee said Jacob to Laban it is time now that I should provide for mine own house And if thou hast served the world and this life so many yeares is it not fit that thou shouldest begin now to make provision for thy soul Every day doth our flesh heap sinne upon sinne Let the Spirit therefore every day wash them away by repentance Christ died that sinne might die in us And shall we suffer that to live and reigne in our hearts for the destroying whereof the sonne of God himself died Christ enters not into the heart of man by grace unlesse John Baptist prepare the way by repentance God poureth not the oyl of mercie but into the vessel of a contrite heart God doth first mortifie us by contrition that afterwards he may quicken us by the consolation of the Spirit He first leads us into hell by serious grief that afterwards he may bring us back again by the taste of grace Elias first heard a great and strong winde overturning mountains and cleaving rocks and after the winde an earthquake and after the earthquake there appeared fire At length there followed a small and still voice In like manner terrour goes before the taste of Gods love and sorrow before comfort God bindes not up thy wounds unlesse thou lay them open by confession and bewail them He covers not unlesse thou first uncover He pardons not unlesse thou first acknowledge He justifies not unlesse thou first condemne thy self He comforts not unlesse thou first despair in thy self This true repentance God by his holy Spirit work in us Meditat. IIII. Of the name of JESVS Blessed blessed name of Jesus Who tormented was to ease us O Good Jesus be thou my Jesus for thy holy names sake have mercy on me My life condemnes me but the name of Jesus shall save me For this thy names sâ—ke do unto me according to thy name seeing that thou art a true and a great Saviour surely thou dost respect those that are sinners indeed yea great sinners Have mercie on me O good Jesus in the time of mercie that I be not condemned in the time of judgement If thou receive me into the bosome of thy mercy thou shalt have never the lesse room If thou bestow upon me the crumbes of thy goodnesse yet thou shalt want never the more For me thou wast born for me thou wast circumcised to me also thou art become a Jesus How sweet and delightfull is this name For what is Jesus but a Saviour and what harm can happen to those that are saved what else can we desire or expect beyond salvation Receive me Lord Jesus into the number of thy sonnes that together with them I may land thy holy and saving name Though I have lost my integritie yet thou hast not forgotten thy mercy Though I had power to lose and condemne my self yet thou in thy mercie art more powerfull to save me Lord do not thou so look upon my sinnes as to forget thy mercy do not so ponder and weigh my offences that they overpoise thy merit do not so remember my wickednesse as therefore to forget thy goodnesse Remember not thy anger against my guiltinesse but remember thy mercie towards my miserie Thou who hast given me a minde to desire thee withdraw not thy self from my desire Thou who hast shewed unto me my unworthinesse and just damnation hide not from me thy merit and the promise of everlasting salvation My cause is to be tried at the heavenly tribunall but this is my comfort that in the court of heaven thou hast assigned unto thee the name of a Saviour for that name was brought down from heaven by an angel O most mercifull Jesus to whom wilt thou be Jesus if not to miserable sinners that seek thy grace and salvation They that trust in their own righteousnesse and holinesse seek salvation in themselves but I flie unto thee my Saviour for I finde nothing in my self worthy of eternall life Save the condemned shew mercie to the sinner justifie the unrighteous absolve the accused Thou Lord art truth thy name is holy and true Let thy name also become true in respect of me and become thou my Jesus and Saviour Be thou unto me Jesus
Without the love of God there is no desire of eternall life How then can any one be partaker of the chiefest good which loveth not which seeketh not which desireth not Such as thy love is such art thou because thy love transformeth thee into it self Love is the chiefest couple because the lover and the thing loved become one What hath conjoyned the most just God and wretched sinners What hath conjoyned them being infinitely distant one from the other Infinite love And yet that the infinite justice of God might not be weakned the infinite price of Christ interceded Again what hath conjoyned together God the Creatour and the faithfull soul created things infinitely distant Love In the life which is eternall we shall be joyned to God in the chiefest degree Why Because we shall love him in the chiefest degree Love uniteth and transformeth if thou lovest carnall things thou art carnall If thou lovest the world thou shalt become worldly But flesh and bloud cannot enter into the kingdome of God If thou lovest God and celestiall things thou shalt become celestiall The love of God is the chariot of Elias ascending up into heaven The love of God is the joy of the minde the paradise of the soul it excludeth the world it overcometh the devil it shutteth hell it openeth heaven The love of God is that seal by which God sealeth the elect and beleevers God at the last judgement will acknowledge none to be his but those that are sealed with this seal For faith it self the onely instrument of our justification and salvation is not true unlesse it doth demonstrate it self by love There is no true faith unlesse there be a firm confidence and there is no confidence without the love of God That benefit is not acknowledged for which we do not give thanks and we do not give thanks to him whom we do not love If therefore thy faith be true it will acknowledge the benefit of our redemption wrought by Christ it will acknowledge and give thanks it will give thanks and love The love of God is the life and rest of the soul When the soul departs from the body by death then the life of the body departeth When God departs out of the soul by reason of sins then the life of the soul departeth Again God dwells in our hearts by faith God dwells in the soul by love because the love of God is diffused in the hearts of the elect by the holy Spirit There is no tranquillitie to the soul without the love of God The world and Satan do much disquiet it But God is the chief rest of the soul There is no peace of conscience but to those that are justified by faith there is no true love of God but in them that have a filiall confidence in God Therefore let the love of our selves the love of the world the love of the creatures die in us that the love of God may live in us Which God begin in us in this world and perfect in the world to come Meditat. X. Of our reconciliation with God Fear not my soul be not dismaid For Iesus Christ thy debts hath paid CHrist truly took our infirmities and bare our griefs and sicknesses O Lord Jesus That which in us merited eternall punishment thou tookest upon thy self That burden which would have pressed us down into hell thou hast undergone Thou wast wounded for our iniquities thou wast broken for our sinnes By the bluenesse of thy wounds are we healed The Lord hath laid upon thee the iniquities of us all Surely wonderfull indeed is this change Thou takest our sinnes upon thy self and bestowest thy righteousnesse upon us Death due unto us thou undergoest thy self and conferrest life upon us I cannot therefore by any means doubt of thy grace or despair by reason of my sinnes The worst thing that was in us thou tookest upon thy self How then canst thou despise that which is the best in us and thine own work to wit our soul and body Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption For he is truly sanctified whose sinnes are abolished and taken away Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and to whom the Lord imputeth not his sinnes How can God impute our sinnes to us when he hath already imputed them to another For the wickednesse of his people he hath smitten his best beloved Sonne By the knowledge of him therefore he shall justifie many and shall bear their iniquities How shall he justifie those that are his Heare and attend O my soul He shall save them by the knowledge of him that is by the saving acknowledgement and firm apprehension by faith of the mercie and grace of God in Christ. This is life eternall to know and acknowledge thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent And therefore if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Faith apprehendeth Christs satisfaction He bare the iniquities of those that are his he suffered for the sinnes of many he interceded for the transgressours For he should have had very few just unlesse in mercy he had received sinners Thou shouldst have had few just O Jesus unlesse thou hadst remitted the sinnes of the unjust How then shall Christ judge according to severitie the sinnes of the penitent which he hath taken upon himself How shall he condemn him that is guilty of sinne seeing that he himself was made sinne for us Will he condemn those whom he calleth his friends Will he condemn those for whom he hath intreated Will he condemn those for whom he died Lift up thy self therefore O my soul and forget thy sinnes for the Lord hath forgotten them Whom dost thou fear as the punisher of thy sinnes but the Lord who himself made satisfaction for thy sinnes If any other had payed the price of my redemption I might have doubted whether the just Judge would accept of that satisfaction If a man or an angel had satisfied for my sinnes yet still there might be a doubt whether the price of redemption were sufficient But now there is no place for doubt How can it be that he will not accept of that price which he hath payd himself How can that choose but be sufficient which is from God himself Why art thou troubled O my soul All the wayes of God are mercie and truth Iust is the Lord and just are his judgements Why art thou troubled O my soul Let the mercy of God raise thee up let the justice of God also raise thee up For if God be just for one offence he will not exact double satisfaction For our sinnes he hath smitten his Sonne How then can he smite us his servants for them How can he punish our sinnes in us which
he hath already punished in his Sonne The truth of the Lord endureth for ever As I live saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner but rather that he turn from his wickednesse and live Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will refresh you saith our Saviour Shall we make God a liar and labour by the weight of our sinnes to bear down his mercy To make God a liar and to denie his mercy is a greater sinne then all the sinnes of the whole world and therefore Judas sinned more in despairing then the Jews in crucifying Christ. But rather where sinne hath abounded there also grace hath abounded much more and overweigheth our sinnes by infinite degrees For sinnes are but the sinnes of men but grace is the grace of God Sinnes are temporall but the grace of our Lord is from eternitie to eternitie Satisfaction hath been made for our sinnes and the grace of God is repaired by the death of Christ and is established for ever unto which I betake my self as a devout suppliant Meditat. XI Of the satisfaction made for our sinnes The death of Christ is life to thee If thou a Christian truly be COme unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will refresh you they are the words of our Saviour It is true indeed Lord Jesus I am burdened overmuch and I sigh under the weight of my sinne But I make haste unto thee the fountain of living water Come unto me Lord Jesus that so I may come unto thee I come unto thee Lord because thou first camest unto me I come unto thee Lord Jesus and with anxietie I desire thee for I finde no goodnesse in my self But if I found any goodnesse in my self I should not with such anxietie desire thee True Lord Jesus I labour and am heavy laden neither can I compare my self with any of the saints or penitent sinners unlesse it be with the thief upon the crosse Lord have mercy upon me thou which hadst mercy on the thief upon the crosse I have lived wickedly I have lived iâ— sinne but I desire to die the death of the holy and righteous But holinesse and righteousnes are farre from my heart Therefore to thy holinesse and righteousnesse do I flie Let thy soul Lord Jesus succour me let it succour me seeing that thou layedst it down for a price of redemption for many Let thy most sacred body which was afflicted with rods spittings buffetings and thorns and fastened to the crosse for me let that succour me Let thy sacred and holy bloud O Jesus let that bloud succour me which ran out of thy side at thy death and passion which cleanseth us from all our sinnes Let thy most holy divinitie succour me thy divinitie which upheld thy humanitie at thy passion which also resting and not shewing it self the great mysterie of our redemption was finished which added infinite strength and weight unto thy passion Insomuch that God by his own bloud hath purchased unto himself me miserable man Let thy wounds succour me in which all my cure consisteth Let thy most holy passion succour me Let thy merit succour me as being my last refuge and a remedie against my sinnes For in that thou sufferedst thou sufferedst for me Therefore in that thou meritedst thou meritedst for me and for mine unworthinesse Therefore God commendeth his love towards us and proveth it by a testimonie surpassing the understanding of all men yea of the angels themselves in that Christ died for us when as yet we were sinners and the enemies of God Who can choose but admire this Who can choose but be astonished at it The Sonne of God intreated by no man yea hated of all men in great mercy intreated for us who were sinners and his enemies Neither intreated he onely but also satisfied Gods justice for us by his most poore nativitie by his most holy life by his most bitter passion by his most cruel death O Lord Jesus Thou that intreatedst for me sufferedst for me and diedst for me before I could desire thy merit and passion or move thee by my prayers to pay the ransome for me how canst thou cast me away from thy face How canst thou denie unto me the fruit of thy most holy passion when as now out of the deeps I cry unto thee and beg the fruit of thy merit with tears and sighs I was an enemie by nature when thou diedst for me but I am made by grace thy friend thy brother and thy sonne Thou heardst an enemie before he prayed unto thee and how canst thou despise thy friend which comes unto thee with prayers and tears Thou wilt not cast out him that cometh unto thee because thy word is truth Thou hast spoken unto us in spirit and truth and we have received from thee the words oâ— eternall life Attend and raise up thy self O my soul Before we were sinners by nature but now we are just by grace Before we were enemies but now we are friends and kinsfolks Before our help was in the death of Christ but now it is in Christ his life Before we were dead in sinnes but now we are quickned in Christ Oh the exceeding love of God wherewith he loved us Oh the superabundant riches of his grace whereby he hath in heaven provided a place for us Oh the tender mercie of our God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us But if the death of Christ hath brought unto us righteousnesse and life what shall his life do If our Saviour dying paid the price unto his Father what shall he do now being alive and interceding for us For Christ liveth and dwells in our heart if the remembrance of his most holy merit live and flourish in it Draw me Lord Jesus that I may possesse in the truth of the thing that which here I expect by the firmnesse of hope Let thy servant I pray thee be with thee and let him behold the glorie which the Father hath given to thee and let him inhabit the mansion which thou hast prepared in thy Fathers house Blessed are they that dwell in thy house O Lord They shall praise thee for ever and ever Meditat. XII Of the nature and properties of true faith Faith is not faith or if it be Faith is but dead wants charity O Thou beloved soul consider the power of faith and give thanks unto God who is the onely giver thereof It is faith alone that doth in such manner ingraft us into Christ that as vine-branches do draw their sap from the vine so we also from him do draw life righteousnesse and salvation Adam fell from the grace of God and lost the divine image by his incredulitie But we are again received to grace and the image of God begins to be renewed in us by faith By faith Christ becomes
of Galilee to shew that he came into the world to spirituall marriages Rejoyce in the Lord with gladnesse and leap thou faithfull soul for joy in thy God who hath clothed thee with the garments of salvation and compassed thee about with the robes of righteousnesse like a spouse adorned with jewels and bracelets Rejoyce for the honour of the bridegroom Rejoyce for the beauty of the bridegroom Rejoyce for the love of the bridegroom His honour is the greatest that can be For he is true God blessed for ever How great then is the dignity of this creature I mean the faithfull soul seeing the Creatour himself is willing to betroth her unto himself His beautie is the greatest that can be For he is beautifull above the sonnes of men for they saw the glorie of him as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father his face shined like the sunne and his garments were white as snow His lips were full of grace and he was crowned with glory and honour How great then is his mercy that he being the chiefest beautie doth vouchsafe to choose the soul of man to be his spouse whereas it is defiled with the stains of sinne On the bridegrooms part there is the greatest majestie On the spouses part there is the greatest infirmitie On the bridegrooms part there is the greatest beautie On the spouses part there is the greatest deformitie And yet farre greater is the love of the bridegroom towards the spouse then of the spouse towards the bridegroom whose honour and whose beauty doth so farre excell Behold thou faithfull soul behold the infinite love of the bridegroom It was his love that drew him down from heaven unto the earth It was his love that bound him to a pillar It was his love that fastened him to the crosse It was his love that enclosed him up in the grave It was his love that he descended into hell What could make him to do all these things Surely it was his love towards his spouse But our hearts are stony and heavier then lead if the bond of so great love cannot draw us unto God whereas it hath drawn God unto us Naked was his spouse and being naked could not be admitted into the royall palace of the heavenly King And he hath clothed her with the garments of righteousnesse and salvation whereas she lay enwrapped and involved in the foul coat of her sinnes and the most filthy rags of iniquitie He hath granted unto her to be arayed in fine linen clean and white the fine linen is the righteousnesse of Saints That garment is the righteousnesse which was obtained by the death and passion of the bridegroom himself Jacob laboured fourteen yeares to obtain Rachel to be his wife But Christ for thirty foure yeares almost endured hunger thirst cold povertie ignominie reproches bonds whips the bitternesse of gall and death upon the crosse to purchase unto himself the faithfull soul to be his spouse Samson went down and chose out of the Philistines which were adjudged to destruction a wife unto himself The Sonne of God came down and chose unto himself a spouse out of men that were condemned and subject to eternall death The whole stock of the spouse was at enmitie with the heavenly Father and he by his most bitter passion hath reconciled it unto his Father The spouse was prostrate upon the face of the earth and polluted in her own bloud But he hath washed her with the water of baptisme and cleansed her with a most holy laver He hath cleansed the bloud of his spouse with his own bloud For the bloud of the Sonne of God doth cleanse us from all our sinnes The spouse was deformed But he hath anointed her with the oyl of grace and mercy The spouse was not honourably apparelled but he hath put bracelets and eare-rings upon her He hath adorned her with vertues and divers gifts of the holy Spirit The spouse was very poore and had no pledge to give unto him Therefore hath he left unto her the pledge of his Spirit received frō her the pledge of his flesh and hath carried it up into heaven The spouse was hungry But he hath given unto her fine flour◠and hony and oyl to eat He doth feed her with his flesh and bloud unto eternall life The spouse is disobedient and often breaketh her marriage faith she committeth fornication with the world and with the devil and yet the bridegroom out of his infinite love doth receive her again into favour as often as she returneth unto him by true repentance Acknowledge and confesse thou faithfull soul these so many and so great arguments of his infinite love Love thou faithfull soul the love of him that for love of thee descended into the wombe of the virgin We must love him that delivered up himself for us so much more then our selves by how much he is greater then us Let us make our whole life conformable unto him who for the love of us made himself wholly conformable unto us He is justly to be accounted most unthankfull who loveth not again him of whom he was first beloved How greatly therefore ought we to love him who for the love of us did as it were forget his own majestie Happy soul which by the bond of this spirituall marriage is joyned unto Christ She doth safely and confidently apply unto her self all the benefits of Christ even as in another case by wedlock the wife doth shine glorious by the reflexion of the husbands rayes upon her Now by faith alone are we made partakers of this blessed and spirituall marriage as it is written I will betroth thee unto me in faith Faith doth ingraft us into Christ as a branch into the spirituall vine that we may suck our life and nourishment from him And as they which are joyned in marriage are no more two but one flesh So they which by faith are joyned unto the Lord become one spirit with him because Christ by faith dwelleth in our hearts And this faith if it be true it worketh by love As in the old Testament the priests were compelled to marry virgins So the celestiall priest doth spiritually couple unto himself such a virgin as doth keep her self pure and undefiled from the embracements of the devil the world and her own flesh Vouchsafe O Christ at length to admit us unto the marriage of the Lambe Amen Meditat. XIIII Of the mysterie of Christs incarnation Admire my soul the mysterie Of Jesus Christs nativitie LEt us withdraw our mindes a while from these temporall things and let us contemplate the mysterie of the Lords nativitie The Sonne of God came down from heaven unto us that we might obtain the adoption of sonnes God is made man that man may be made partaker of divine grace and nature About the
her prayers may she worship in spirit So shall she be able with Abraham to escape the everlasting fire prepared For the plain of this world Bethanie signifieth a village of humilitie and affliction by which we must passe to the kingdome of heaven even as Christ himself passed from the place of affliction to the joyes of heaven Till this time heaven was shut and paradise which is above was kept by a flaming sword But now Christ being conquerour doth set open heaven unto us to shew us the way into our heavenly countrey from which we had fallen away The disciples stood lifting up their eyes and looking up towards heaven So let the true disciples of Christ lift up the eyes of their heart to behold heavenly things Lord Jesus what a glorious clause followed thy passion How happie and sudden a change is this How did I see thee suffering on mount Calvarie and how do I behold thee now in the mount of Olives There thou wast alone here thou art accompanied with many thousands of angels There thou didst ascend up to the crosse here thou dost ascend up into heaven in a cloud There thou wast crucified between theeves here thou rejoyced among the companies of angelâ— There thou wast nailed to the crosse as a condemned man here thou aâ—â— at libertie and dost deliver those thaâ— were condemned There dying and suffering here rejoycing and triumphing Christ is our head we are his members Rejoyce therefore and be glad thou faithfull soul for the ascension of thy head The glory of the head is the glory also of the members Where our flesh doth reigne there let us beleeve that we shall also reigne Where our bloud doth rule let us hope that we shall also obtain glorie Though our sinnes do hinder us yet the communion of nature doth not repell us Where the head is there shall the other members be also Our head is entred into heaven Therefore the members have just cause to hope for entrance not onely so but that they have possession there already Christ descended from heaven to redeem us and again he ascended up into heaven to glorifie us Unto us was he born for us did he suffer For us therefore did he ascend Our charitie is confirmed by Christs passion our faith by Christs resurrection our hope by Christs ascension We must follow Christ our bridegroom not onely with our ardent desires but also with our good works Into that citie which is above nothing shall enter that is defiled In token of this the angels that came from the heavenly Jerusalem appeared in white apparel by which puritie and innocencie is figured With the Doctour of humilitie there ascended no pride with the Authour of goodnesse there ascended no malice with the Lover of peace there ascended no discord and with the Sonne of the Virgin there ascended no lust After the Parent of vertues there ascend no vices after the Just there ascend no sinnes and after the Physician there can ascend no infirmities He that desires to see God hereafter face to face let him here so live as in his sight He that hopes for celestiall things let him contemn terrestriall O draw our hearts thee good Jesus Meditat. XXII An Homilie of the holy Ghost God sealeth by his holy Spirit As many as shall life inherit OUr Lord ascending up into the heavens and entring into his glory sent the holy Ghost unto the disciples upon the day of Pentecost As in the old Testament God when he proclaimed the law in mount Sinai came down unto Moses So when the gospel was by the apostles to be propagated throughout all the world the holy Ghost came down upon them There was thundering and lightning and the loud sound of the trumpet because the law doth thunder against our disobedience and makes us subject to Gods indignation But here is the sound of a gentle winde for the preaching of the gospel doth lift up the souls that are cast down There was the fear and trembling of all the people because the law worketh wrath But here the whole multitude doth flock together to heare the wonderfull things of God for by the gospel we have accesse unto God There the Lord descended in fire but it was in the fire of his wrath and furie therefore was the mountain moved and did smoke But here the holy Ghost descendeth in the fire of love so that all the house is not shaken by the wrath of God but is rather replenished with the glory of the holy Ghost What wonder is it if the holy Ghost be sent from the court of heaven to sanctifie us seeing that the Sonne was sent to redeem us The passion of Christ had not profited us unlesse by the gospel it had been preached unto us For what use is there of a treasure that is hid Therefore our most mercifull Father did not onely prepare a great benefit by the passion of his Sonne but also would have it offered to all the world by sending the holy Ghost The faithfull mother giveth unto her tender infant both her dugs God who is faithfull doth send unto us both the Sonne and the holy Ghost But the holy Ghost came upon the apostles when they were assembled together at prayer with one accord For he is the Spirit of prayer he iâ— obtained by prayer and he moveth us to pray Wherefore Because he is that bond by which our hearts are united with God as he doth unite the Father with the Sonne and the Sonne with the Father For he is the mutuall substantiall love of the Father and the Sonne This our spirituall conjunction with God is wrought by faith But faith is the gift of the Spirit It is obtained by prayer But true prayer is made in the Spirit In the temple of Solomon when incense was offered unto God the temple was filled with the glory of the Lord So if thou offerest unto God the sweet odours of prayers the holy Ghost shall fill the temple of thy heart with glory Let us here admire the mercy and grace of God The Father promiseth to heare our prayers the Sonne maketh intercession for us and the holy Ghost prayeth in us The angels carrie our prayers unto God and the court of heaven is open to receive our prayers God of his mercie doth give unto us the affect of prayer because he giveth unto us the spirit of grace and prayer He giveth unto us also the effect of prayer because he doth alwayes heare our prayers if not according to our will yet according to that which is most profitable for us The holy Ghost came when they were all met together with one accord in the same place For he is the Spirit of love and concord that joyneth us unto Christ by faith unto God by love and unto our neighbour by charitie The devil is the authour of discord and separation by
Because she despiseth earthly things that are subject to sundry changes Consider thou devout soul the exceeding great dignitie of the church and render due thanks unto God Great are the benefits which are in the church of God but all do not meet with them It is a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed up No man sees the beautie of this enclosed garden but he that is in it Neither doth any one know the benefits that are in the church but he that is himself in it This spouse of Christ is black without but beautifull within For the kings daughter is all glorious within This ship is tossed with many tempests of persecutions This vineyard being bound doth rise up and being cut down groweth up For this woman the infernall Dragon lieth in wait after diverse manners The church is a fair lilie But yet among thorns The church is a most beautifull garden But when the North-winde of tribulations doth blow upon it the spices thereof fall The church is Gods daughter But she is exceedingly hated of the world She looks for an heavenly inheritance and therefore she is compelled to be a pilgrime in this world In this pilgrimage she is oppressed in her pressure she is silent in her silence she is strong in her strength she overcometh The church is a spirituall mother But she is compelled to stand under the crosse with Mary the mother of Christ. The church is a palm-tree Because under the weight of tribulations and tentations she grows most Consider thou devout soul the dignitie of the church And beware thou commit nothing to her dishonour The church is thy mother Take heed therefore that thou contemn not her voice She is thy mother Therefore thou must alwayes hang upon her breasts The breasts of the church are the Word and the Sacraments The church is a virgin If therefore thou art her true sonne abstain from the worlds embracements Thou art a member of the virgin the church See therefore that thou prostitute not the virgins members and so commit fornication with the devil by sinne The church is the spouse of Christ and so is every devout soul Let her beware therefore that she cleave not unto Satan Thou art the spouse of Christ See thou lose not the earnest of the holy Spirit which he hath given thee Thou art the spouse of Christ Pray continually that the bridegroom would make haste and lead thee in unto the celestiall marriage But the bridegroom will come in the night of securitie Watch therefore lest when he cometh he finde thee sleeping and so shut thee out of the gate of eternall salvation Let the oyl of thy faith shine lest at the coming of the bridegroom thou beest constrained to desire it in vain Thou art carried in the ship See therefore that thou dost not throw thy self headlong into the sea of the world before thou comest to the haven Thou art carried in the ship pray that thou beest not swallowed up by the tempests of afflictions and waves of tentations Thou art called into the Lords vineyard See that thou labourest stoutly Think upon the penie and not upon the dayes labour Thou art the Lords vineyard Cast away all unprofitable branches that is the unfruitfull works of the flesh and think the whole time of thy life to be the time of pruning Thou art a vine-branch in Christ the true vine See that thou dost remain in him and bring forth much fruit Because the heavenly husbandman will take away every branch that bringeth not forth fruit and purge that which bringeth forth fruit that it may bring forth more fruit Thou hast put on Christ by faith and art clothed with this sunne of righteousnesse See then that thou treadest the moon that is all earthly things under thy feet And esteem all other things little worth in respect of eternall goods O good Jesus thou that hast brought us into the church militant bring us at length also into the church triumphant Meditat. XXIIII Of Predestination In Christ we are by God elect Without Christ God doth all reject O Devout soul as often as thou wilt meditate upon thy predestination behold Christ hanging upon the crosse dying for the sinnes of the whole world and rising again for our justification Begin from Christ lying in the manger and so thy disputation of predestination shall proceed orderly God elected us before the foundations of the world were laid but yet he elected us in Christ If therefore thou art in Christ by faith do not doubt but that election belongeth unto thee If with a firm confidence of heart thou adherest unto Christ do not doubt but that thou art in the number of the elect But if thou goest further beyond the limits of the word and wilt search into the profunditie of predestination it is greatly to be feared that thou wilt fall into the profunditie of desperation Without Christ God is a consuming fire Take heed therefore of coming too neare this fire lest thou beest consumed Without Christs satisfaction God by the voice of his law accuseth all and condemneth all Take heed therefore that thou drawest not the mysterie of predestination out of the law Search not into the reasons of Gods counsels lest thy cogitations do much seduce thee God dwelleth in light that no man can attain unto Presume not therefore to come unto it rashly But God hath revealed unto us the light of his gospel and in this thou mayest safely inquire into the doctrine of this secret and in this light thou shalt see true light Leave the profunditie of this eternall decree made from eternitie and convert thy self to the clearnesse of the manifestation which was made in time Justification made in time is the glasse of election made without time Out of the law take notice of the wrath of God for sinne and repent out of the gospel take notice of the mercie of God through Christ his merit and apply that unto thy self by faith Take notice of the nature of faith and shew it by thy godly conversation Take notice of Gods fatherly castigation in crosses and endure through patience And then at length begin to handle the doctrine of predestination This method the apostle teacheth This method let him that is the apostles disciple follow There are three things alwayes to be observed in this mysterie The mercie of God loving us the merit of Christ suffering for us and the grace of the holy Ghost by the gospel sanctifying us Gods mercie is universall because he loved the whole world The earth is full of the Lords mercy yea his mercy is greater then heaven and earth For it is as great as God is For God is love He hath witnessed by his word that he will not the death of a sinner And if this be too little he hath confirmed it with an oath If thou canst not beleeve him
think upon three things present the brevitie of this present life the difficultie of being saved and the paâ—citie of them that shall be saved Alwayes think upon three things to come Death then which nothing is more horrible judgement then which nothing is more terrible the pains of hell then which nothing is more intolerable Let thy evening prayers amend the sinnes of the day past Let the last day of the week amend the faults of the dayes past In the evening think how many are plunged that day into hell and give thanks unto God for granting thee time to repent There are three things above thee which never let slip out of thy memorie The eye that sees all the eare that heares all and the book wherein all things are written God hath communicated himself wholly unto thee Communicate thou thy self wholly unto thy neighbour That is the best life which is busied in the service of others Shew obedience and reverence to thy superiour give counsel and aid to thy equall defend and instruct thy inferiour Let thy bodie be subject to thy minde and thy minde to God Bewail thy evils past and esteem not the goods that are present and desire with all thy heart the goods which are future Remember thy sinne to grieve for it Remember death that thou mayst cease from sinne Remember Gods justice that thou mayst be kept in fear Remember Gods mercie that thou mayst not despair As much as thou canst withdraw thy self from the world and addict thy self wholly unto the service of the Lord. Alwayes in delights think that thy chastitie is in danger in riches think that thy humilitie is in danger in many businesses think that thy godlinesse is in danger Study to please none but Christ Fear to displease none but Christ. Alwayes pray thou unto God to command what he will and to give what he commands Pray unto him to cover what is past and to govern what is to come As thou desirest to seem so also thou must be For God judgeth not according to the shew but according to the truth In thy words take heed of much babling because for every idle word thou must give an account in the day of judgement Thy works be they what they will do not passe away but are cast as certain seeds of eternitie If thou sowest in the flesh of the flesh thou shalt reap corruption If thou sowest in the spirit of the spirit thou shalt reap life everlasting The honours of the world shall not follow thee after death neither shall thy heaps of riches follow thee neither shall thy pleasures follow thee neither shall the vanities of the world follow thee But after all thy works shall follow thee As therefore thou desirest to be at the day of judgement to day appeare to be such in the sight of God Do not esteem those things that thou hast but rather esteem those that thou wantest Be not proud for what is given thee but be humbled rather for that which is denied thee Learn to live whiles thou mayst live In this life is eternall life either obtained or lost After death there is no time to work but the time of recompense begins In the life to come working is not expected but the reward of working Let holy meditation bring forth in thee knowledge and knowledge compunction and compunction devotion and let devotion make prayer The silence of the mouth is a great good for the peace of the heart The more thou art separated from the world the more acceptable thou art unto God Whatsoever thou desirest to have ask of God whatsoever thou hast give unto God He that is not thankfull for that which is given already is unworthy to receive more Gods graces cease to descend when our thanks cease to ascend Whatsoever happeneth unto thee make use of it for good When thou art in prosperity think that thou hast then an occasion to blesse and praise God When thou art in adversitie think that thou art then put in minde of thy repentance and conversion Shew the strength of thy power in helping the strength of thy wisdome in instructing and the strength of thy riches in doing good Let not adversitie cast thee down neither let prosperitie lift thee up Let all thy life be directed unto Christ as unto the mark Follow him in the way that thou mayst overtake him in thy countrey In all things have a speciall care of profound humilitie and ardent charitie Let charitie lift up thy heart unto God that thou mayest cleave unto him And let humilitie keep thy heart down that thou beest not proud Judge God to be a Father for his clemencie a Lord for his discipline a Father for his power and gentlenesse a Lord for his severitie and justice Love him as a Father piously fear him as a Lord necessarily Love him because he willeth mercy fear him because he willeth not sinne Fear the Lord and trust in him acknowledge thy misery and proclaim his mercy O God thou that hast given us to will give us also grace to perfect Meditat. XXIX Of the shaking off securitie To live it is not but to die To live in all securitie COnsider thou devout soul what an hard matter it is to be saved and thou shalt easily shake off all securitie At no time and in no place is there securitie Neither in heaven nor in paradise and then much lesse in the world An angel fell in the presence of the divinitie and Adam fell in the place of pleasure Adam was created after the image of God and yet notwithstanding he was deceived by the treacheries of the devil Solomon was the wisest of men and yet his wives turned away his heart from the Lord. Judas was in the school of our Saviour and did every day heare the saving word of that chief Doctour and yet was not he safe from the snares of Satan He was plunged headlong into the pit of covetousnesse and so into the pit of eternall punishment David was a man after Gods own heart and he was unto the Lord as a most deare sonne and yet by murder and adulterie he became the sonne of death Where then is there securitie in this life Relie with an assured confidence of heart upon the promises of God and thou shalt be safe from the invasions of the devil There is no securitie in this life but that which is infallibly promised to those that beleeve and walk in the way of the Lord But when we come unto future happâ—nesse then at length we shall have full securitie In this life fear and religion are coupled together neither must one be without the other Be not secure in adversitie but whatsoever adversitie happâ—neth unto thee in this life think that it iâ— the reward of thy sinnes God often punisheth secret offences by open corrections Think upon the grievous stains of
If it be the totall good of mankinde to love God then it must needs be the totall evil to love himself If it be the nature and propertie of the true good to communicate it self then surely mans love of himself must needs be a great evil because he challengeth his own and others good unto himself If all glory be due unto God alone then is it sacriledge to challenge honour for he that challengeth it challengeth that which is anothers Extinguish in me this love of my self and mine honour O Christ blessed for ever Amen PRAYER XI He prayeth for conquest over the world ALmightie eternall and mercifull God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give unto me the grace of thy holy Spirit that I may get the conquest over all the tentations of the world The world sets upon me with hatred flattery and perverse examples Teach me to contemn the hatred of the world to decline her allurements and to shun the imitation of evil examples What can the world with her hatred do against me if thy grace like a buckler protect me What shall it hurt me though all men should persecute me with hatred if thou my God dost embrace me with love Again what shall it profit me though all men should love me if the fury of thine anger shall pursue me The world passeth away the hatred of the world passeth away But the grace of God alone endureth for ever Remove therefore O God out of my heart that inordinate fear that I be not afraid of the hatred and persecution of the world But ingraff in my soul a full confidence and an ardent heat of the spirit that I may learn to contemn all worldly things because they are transitorie clouds Why should I be afraid of them that kill the body but cannot kill the soul I will rather reverence and fear him that is able to cast not onely the body but the soul also into the everlasting fire of hell Our faith is the victorie that overcometh the world For by faith we have an eye unto the joyes to come that so we may with patience endure these present sorrows By faith we relie upon the divine goodnesse that so we may abide humane hatred Neither doth the world assault me on the left hand onely with her hatred but on the right hand also she laboureth to ensnare me with her fawning allurements She hath a sting in her tail but she hath a smooth face Grant unto me therefore O Christ a taste of the sweetnesse of the heavenly joy that I may lose the taste of earthly things The taste of my soul is corrupt and coveteth after earthly things and the contempt of the worlds allurements doth seem bitter unto it But thou the true prizer of things hast taught me to lothe the enticements of the world and wouldest have my soul to soar aloft after heavenly things Turn away therefore O turn away my heart from the allurements of the world that being turned unto thee it may enjoy the true and spirituall delights What have these things profited the lovers of the world after death to wit Vain glory short pleasure slender power What hath the momentanie pleasure of the flesh and store of false riches profited Where are they now that not many dayes ago were here with us There remains nothing of them but ashes and worms They did eat and drink being secure they passed their life being made drunk with carnall pleasure But now their flesh is here given to the worms for meat and their soul is there tormented in everlasting fire All their glorie is fallen like the flower and like grasse withered Suffer me not O God to follow their steps lest that I come to the same term of misery But by the victory of the world lead me unto the crown of celestiall glory Amen PRAYER XII He prayes for consolation in adversitie and for the true rest of the soul. MOst gracious Father God of 〈◊〉 hope and consolation grant unto me in all adversities thy quickning consolation and the true rest of the soul. I feel much straitnesse in my heart But thy consolation shall make glad my soul. Vain and unprofitable is all the comfort of the world in thee alone is the strength and support of my soul. The weight of divers calamities presseth me sore But thy inward speaking unto me and thy consolation maketh it light No creature can make me so sorrowfull but thou canst make me much more glad by the spirit of gladnesse No adversities can so straiten my heart but thy grace can much more enlarge it The fiery heat of sundry calamities doth torment me But the taste of thy sweetnesse doth refresh me Rivers of tears distill from mine eyes But thy most bountifull hand doth wipe them all away As thou didst shew thy loving countenance to Stephen the first Martyr even in the very heat when his enemies stoned him So vouchsafe to give unto me in all adversities the joy of thy comfort As in the most grievous agonie of death thou didst send an angel unto thy Sonne to comfort him So in this my wrestling send I beseech thee thy holy Spirit to uphold me Without thy support I fall down under the burden of the crosse Without thy help by the assault of sundry adversities I am cast down flat Extinguish in me the love of the world and of the creatures so shall not the calamities of this world nor the changeablenesse of the creatures bring any bitternesse unto me He that with all his heart doth cleave unto the world and to the creatures can never be made partaker of the true and eternall rest for all terrestriall things are subject to continuall alterations and changes But whosoever doth not cleave unto the present goods of this life with an inordinate desire he will not be grieved much for the losse of the same Poure out O God poure out of my heart the love of the world that the celestiall Elisha may poure into the widows pitcher that is into my soul devoid of earthly comfort the oyl of celestiall joy Let all earthly things be troubled and changed and turned upside down Yet notwithstanding thou art the immoveable foundation and most firm rock of my heart Can a poore and weak creature disturb the quiet of my soul which I possesse in thee my Creatour sure and immoveable Can the waves of the world that most unquiet sea cast down the rock of my heart which is fixt in thee the chief and immutable good No For thy peace passeth all un-understanding and overcometh the invasion of all adversities Which inward peace most bountifull Father I beg at thy hands with most humble sighs Amen PRAYER XIII He prayes for victory in tentations and deliverance from the devils treacheries and invasions BE present unto me thou God of Zebaoth thou God of strength and mercy that I yeeld not unto the tentations and invasions of Satan but being safe
that the raging madnesse and desire to persecute which they have in their mindes may hereafter cease Let them know O Lord and acknowledge that it is not onely a vain thing but also very dangerous to kick against the pricks Why do they imitate the furie of wolves when as they know that the bloud of Christ the immaculate Lambe was poured 〈◊〉 for us Why do they thirst to shed that innocent bloud for which they know that the bloud of the very Sonne of God was poured â—orth upon the altar of the crosse Convert them O Lord that they may be converted unto thee from their heart and so obtain the fruit of their conversion in this life and in that which is to come Amen PRAYER VII He supplicates for those that are afflicted and in miserie ALmighty eternall and mercifull God which art the Saviour of all men especially of the faithfull and by thy Apostle hast commanded us to make prayers for all men I intreat thee for all those that are afflicted and in miserie that thou wouldest support them by the consolation of thy grace and succour them by the aid of thy power Indue with power and strength from above those that labour and sweat in the most grievous agonie of Satans tentations Make them partakers of thy victory O Christ thou which didst most powerfully overcome Satan Let the cooler of thy heavenly comfort raise up those whose bones are become dry with the fire of grief and sorrow Bear up all those that are ready to fall and raise up those that are already fallen Be mercifull unto those that are sick and diseased and grant that the disease of the body may be unto them the medicine of the soul and the adversities of the flesh the remedies of the spirit Let them know that diseases are the handmaids of sinne and the forerunners of death Give unto them the strength of faith and patience O thou which art the most true Physician both of soul and body Restore them again unto their former health if it be for the everlasting salvation of their souls Protect all those that are great with childe and those that be in labour Thou art he that dost deliver children out of the straits of their mothers wombe and dost propagate mankinde by thy blessing be present with those that be in labour O thou lover and giver of life that they be not oppressed with an immoderate weight of sorrows Nourish those that are orphans and destitute of all help and succour Defend the widows that are subject to the reproches of all men thou which hast called thy self the Father of the fatherlesse and the judge and defender of the widows Let the tears of the widows which flow down from their cheeks break through the clouds and rest not untill they come before thy throne Heare those that be in danger by sea which cry to thee and send up their sighs unto thee seeing before their eyes their neighbours suffer shipwrack Restore libertie unto those that are captive that with a thankfull heart they may sing of thy bounty Confirm those that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake that they may get the conquest over all their enemies and purchase the everlasting crown of martyrdome Be present with all those that be in danger and calamitie and grant that they may possesse their souls in true patience and denying their own wills take up their crosse Let them follow him under the crosse on whom they beleeve that he died for us upon the crosse And especially I commend unto thee most gracious Father those which are about the gates of death and are between time and eternitie and wrestle with all their strength with that last enemie Confirm them O thou most potent Conquerour of death Deliver them O most glorious Captain and Authour of life that they be not overwhelmed in the waves of tentations but by thy conduct they may be brought unto the haven of everlasting rest Have mercy upon all men thou which art the Creatour of all Have mercy upon all men thou which art the Redeemer of all To thee be praise and glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS The summe of Gerards prayers redâ—ced into a form of morning prayer for the use of an English familie The foure capitall words signifie the foure parts of Gerards prayers and the Arithmeticall figures point 〈◊〉 every prayer of those parts HOly God and just Judge Thine eyes are more purâ— then the sunne and cannot behold any thing that is unclear The Cherubims and Seraphims cover their faces before thy glorious majestie The heavens of heavens are not clean in thy sight How theâ— shall earth sinfull earth dust and ashes appear before thee We presume not O Lord to come before thâ— tribunal to plead for our righteousnesse for all our righteousnesse is aâ— filthie rags But we prostrate our selves with all humilitie of body and soul at thy mercy-seat to make CONFESSION of our sinnes Heare Lord and have mercy We confesse that 1 We sinned in the loyns of our first parents we were conceived in sinne we were shapen in iniquitie 2 In our childhood originall sinne brought forth actuall and actuall sinnes have increased in us ever since as our dayes have increased Who can reckon up the sinnes of his youth Who can tell how oft he offendeth The just man sinneth seven times a day But 3 We have sinned seventy times seven times every day â— 5 All thy holy laws and commandments we have broken in thought word and deed 6 We have been partakers of other mens sinnes 7 We are many wayes convinced of our sinnes We are convinced 8 By the contrition of heart and the testimonie of our conscience 9 By the greatnesse of thy mercy and thy benefits bestowed upon us 10 By the severitie of thy â—ustice declared in the death and passion of thy Sonne our Saviour Iesus Christ. Thou art an holy God and nearest not sinners Thou art a just Judge and thy justice must be satisfied We are sinners and the wages of sinne is death Thy justice must be satisfied or else we cannot escape death We have nothing of our own to give for the ransome of our souls Therefore we offer unto thee holy Father that which is not ours but thy Sonnes 1 For our originall sinne we offer unto thee just Judge his originall righteousnesse who is righteousneâ— it self for our conception in sinne we offer unto thee his most sacred conception who was conceived by the holy Ghost for our birth in sinne we offer unto thee his most pure nativitie who was born of a pure virgin 2 For the offences of our youth we offer unto thee his most perfect innocencie in whose mouth was found no guile 3 For our daily slips and falls we offer unto thee his most perfect obedience who made it his meat and drink to do thy will in all things 4 5 For our often breach of thy commandments we offer